Caps Start Homestand vs. Sens
Caps close out one year and ring in the next during a three-game homestand, starting Thursday vs. Ottawa
The Caps come home to open up a three-game homestand while also closing out their three-game season's series with the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night at Capital One Arena. The homestand is wrapped around the turn of the calendar and features a trio of Atlantic Division opponents; Montreal and Buffalo will follow the Senators into the District before the Caps hit the road for the first time in 2023.
Speaking of the road, the Capitals blanked the New York Rangers by a 4-0 count on Tuesday night in Manhattan, coming out of the NHL's three-day holiday break the same way they went into it, playing their best hockey of the season to date. Washington's Tuesday win in New York was its sixth straight road win, matching the franchise standard established in 1983-84 and matched in 2010-11.
Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves - including 13 while New York was on the power play - to record his third shutout and his 10th victory of the season. Kuemper and the Caps' penalty killing crew successfully snuffed out five New York power plays in the game.
"I thought everybody chipped in, if you look at how the scoring was dished around," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "The penalty kill chipped in, the power play scored us a goal, [we had] goals from different lines and a big goaltending effort, so I thought it was really good."
Marcus Johansson's power-play goal during a two-man advantage gave the Caps a 1-0 lead just ahead of the midpoint of the first period, and the Caps nursed that slim lead into the latter stages of the second, when New York began to buzz a bit in the offensive zone. But Washington struck for a pair of key goals late in the middle period to take control of the contest.
Erik Gustafsson stayed hot with his fifth goal in as many games; he scored as the late guy into the zone on an odd-man rush, picking up a rebound in front and burying it with 3:01 left. An unsuccessful coach's challenge for goaltender interference from Rangers bench boss Gerard Gallant gave the Caps an immediate power play and a chance to tack on another, but Blueshirts netminder Igor Shesterkin made the save of the game to deny Johansson a second extra-man tally.
Not to worry, kid. Anthony Mantha forced a neutral zone turnover and sent Lars Eller into New York ice, and Eller expertly used defenseman Jacob Trouba as a screen, firing a shot past Shesterkin with 36.3 seconds left in the second.
Conor Sheary's shorthanded empty-netter closed out the scoring and kept the Caps' sustained hot streak rolling right out of the holiday break. With their 13-3-1 run, the Caps have climbed from seventh to third place in the Metro Division standings.
"We believed in ourselves," says Johansson. "We've had some tough breaks, and it's not easy when it starts going against you. But I feel like once we started turning it around, then we started getting some momentum into our game. We know we've got a great team in here, and it's been fun to turn this thing around. I feel like we're just building our game every night and getting better and better. It's been great the last little while here."
By the end of calendar 2022, the Caps will have played 15 of their 17 games against the League's seven Canadian teams. Washington is completely finished with its eight games against the League's four Western Canada clubs, and after hosting Ottawa and Montreal on this homestand, the Caps - who have made eight border crossings in December - will play only two more games against Canadian clubs, both of them on the road. The Capitals will visit Toronto on Jan. 29 and will travel to Montreal on April 6.
The Caps and Sens split their first two meetings of the season, both of which took place in Ottawa. Back in mid-October, the Senators handed the Caps a 5-2 defeat in Canada's capital city region and the Caps eked out a 3-2 overtime win over the Sens a week ago up north, with Marcus Johansson supplying the game-winner in the extra session.
Ottawa comes to town on the heels of a 3-2 shootout victory over the top team in the League, the Boston Bruins. The Sens held off the Bruins despite losing defenseman Nikita Zaitsev to injury early in the game and despite a 27-shot fusillade from the B's in the third period. Ottawa goaltender Cam Talbot made 49 saves - the most ever by a Sens goalie in a victory - to give his team its second win over Boston this season. Talbot made 30 saves on 31 shots he saw in the third period and overtime, then stopped all three he faced in the shootout.
Thursday's game in the District starts a quick two-game trip for the Sens to close out the 2022 portion of the 2022-23 season; Ottawa visits Detroit for a New Year's Eve date with the Red Wings, where Washington spent last Dec. 31.
